


Ice and Snow, the Paladins' Foe

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Series: The Red Paladin's Double [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Hunk Is Adorable, Injury, Keith gets drugged, Lance (Voltron) Flirts, crashes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-08 04:41:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8830795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: Coran's training exercise goes wrong. What else is new?





	

**Author's Note:**

> If you didn't read planet of twists and turns, read it first.

“Alright, team,” Coran sounded especially cheerful and the earthlings plus Shiana all mentally groaned at what new horrible training exercise Coran and Alura had cooked up “New training exercise!” The teenagers all groaned out loud this time. “We’re going to drop you into the middle of a random planet and see how you survive! Here’s the thing! We will also let you take a backpack of our choice size full of things you might need, and whatever you can carry! Also, you have to survive alone. You can form an alliance for two days, but that’s it!” He handed a backpack to each of them. “Go!” They all raced off to different parts of the ship.

Keith managed to find a small tent and hunting gear. Lance mostly packed edible things, surprisingly not taking any facial products. Hunk and Pidge loaded their packs with small gadgets. Shiana wandered around until she found a storeroom full of seed packets. She took as many as she could and also something called Altean miracle grow. She also took her gloves, boots and tools. Shiro took a long time, and refused to reveal what he had packed.

Shiana sat up on the navigation deck, staring at the stars. Everyone else had gone to bed, but she was wide awake. She wondered how far away her planet was. Soft footsteps echoed behind her and Hunk sat down beside her.

“Miss home?” he asked softly. Shiana nodded.

“It’s just… so cold here.” Shiana shivered. Hunk frowned.

“Because you live on a jungle planet?”

“Yes. It’s quiet and cold here. But I don’t miss being a slave.” Hunk put an arm around her shoulders and winced inwardly at how skinny she was. Even after being with them for a few weeks, eating enough, she was still so much thinner than she should be. They sat like that for a while, just sitting together, Hunks arm around her, until Shiana’s breathing slowed and she was leaning on Hunk, fast asleep. Hunk smiled, glad he’d been able to pierce this sad girl’s shell. He scooped her up in his arms, and she snuggled into his chest. Smiling, he carried her to her room.

“Alright, everybody up!” Coran’s voice echoed through the P.A. Shiana woke with a start. She was in her room. How had she gotten here? The last thing she remembered was on the navigation deck…ah. Hunk. He must have taken her to bed.

All of the Voltron members and Shiana gathered on the deck. Coran was pacing in front of them.  
“Alright! Let’s lay down some rules. First! No killing any creature on the planet unless it attacks you without deliberate provocation. Second! As I said before, you can have an alliance for two days before you have to split ways. This is your planet!” Coran motioned out the window to an ice-covered planet. Shiana turned pale. Hunk winced. If this girl thought the castle was cold, how would she react to a planet covered in snow? Lance grinned.

“Bet you don’t feel so hot packing seeds, do you, Shiana? It’ll be fine. You can pair up with me, beautiful.” He flashed her his most brilliant smile

“Drop dead,” replied Shiana, completely stony-faced. Lance pouted.

“Now that wasn’t very nice.” Pidge rolled her eyes at him, accompanied by the rest of the castle except Coran.

“Coming to drop site one!” Coran handed Shiro a parachute with the clothes he’d need to survive. Shiro quickly put them on and jumped out of the airlock, Coran having come close to the planet’s surface. They all jumped out at their jump sites, one after another.  
Shiana landed on the cold surface of the planet. Quiznek! Why was everything so cold? Shiana missed her nice warm jungle planet. She quickly surveyed her surroundings. There was a space-shipwreck nearby. Now there was something she could understand. With a small smile on her face, Shiana began to travel towards it.

Lance was freezing. He had no food left. It was only day two, and he was going to fail already. He pictured the smug look on Keith’s face when he found out Lance had to be picked up on day two. Not a chance, Kogane, Lance thought grimly. He saw lights up ahead, warm, soft light. He stumbled towards it, praying, hoping that it was one of his teammates. He’d even settle for Keith, if that’s who it was. Stumbling to the door, he raised a fist and knocked. He was greeted by the bright smile of Shiana, which quickly slid off her face into the mask of steel she used when he attempted to flirt with her.

“Let me guess. You’re freezing, you’re out of food, and you want to come in.”

“Quiznek, yes!” Lance rushed past her into her nice house. She sighed, but smiled when she shook her head.

“Alliance?”

“Please?”

“How about… you do what I tell you to, and I’ll let you stay here and eat food.”

“Fine! Yes! Absolutely.” Then Lance noticed just how warm it was. Shiana was in a T-shirt and jeans. “Why is it so warm in here.” Shiana smiled smugly.

“Space-shipwreck. I stole the heating system.”

“You do realize we will be here a week.”

“Hmph. When it comes to you people, one week ends up being a month.”

“Just how much do you know about us?” Shiana settled down, cross-legged on the floor.

“Lots of stories. Why don’t you confirm some of them for me?”

“Sure.” Lance settled down next to Shiana on the floor. “What do you want to know?”

“True or false: did you flirt with an alien that tied you to a tree and stole your lion?”

Lance winced. “Painfully true.”

“True or false: did you…” The two teens sat on the floor for a while, just trading stories and talking. Then Lance’s stomach let out a large growl.

“Look at that,” grinned Lance, “Someone’s trying to make up for Hunk’s absence.” Shiana stood up with a small smile.

“Follow me.” Lance obeyed, and she led him to a greenhouse attached to her house. Inside plants were growing, plants that looked strangely like plants from earth.  
“This is my green house,” stated Shiana proudly, “I have plants from all over the universe. But most are from my home planet.” Lance picked what looked like an apple. He bit it. It even tasted like an apple. The sweet taste brought back memories of eating an apple pie at the Garrison that Hunk had made. Lance smiled. Then a red flashing lights started to blink above them. Shiana muttered something in her native language that sounded like a curse and ran to a room with screens everywhere.

“Why? How?” Shiana was clicking on a mouse frantically, pulling up an image from the outside. Galra ships. Lance’s blood turned cold.

“How did they find us?!”

“I don’t know!” Then Shiana smacked herself in the head. “Ah! Sum stultus! How could I have been so… argh!” she smacked herself in the head again. Lance was confused.

“Okay. I’m missing something here. One, what did you just say, and two, what’s going on?”

Shiana smiled slightly. “Called myself an idiot. The Galra found us. I… I didn’t think right. It all makes sense now. Of course, if Keith and I had tracking chips so would Shiro. Malus, malus, malus.” Shiana caught Lance’s confused look. “Bad.”

“Okay, but why are they here? Shouldn’t they be after Shiro?”

“Probably the snow confused the chip so that they only know the planet. And this house isn’t very hard to miss. Particle barrier up.” The familiar sound of an active particle barrier began to hum.

“What?! How?! Never mind. You’re Shiana, the great mechanic genius.” The Galra began to open fire, and Shiana swung into action. She clicked on a button that read “turrets,” and, just like a video game, took aim at the Galra robots and plowed them down. Eventually the Galra decided they weren’t worth the trouble and left. Shiana held down a different button and then spoke into a mic.

“Shiana to the Castle of Lions! Come in Castle of Lions!”

“We hear you, Shiana,” came Alura’s voice over a set of speakers, “What’s the matter?”

“The Galra are here!”  
“Duly noted.” Lance realized that he could hear the sound of gunfire on the other side. “We’re a little occupied. See if you can get the other Voltron Paladins together, and then we’ll see what we can do.” Shiana acknowledged this command before turning off the comm. Shiana turned to Lance.

“Well, you heard her.” Lance followed Shiana to a garage-like room with two snow speeders.

“Where do you even find the time to make this stuff,” Lance wondered aloud.

“These were already intact. I just had to fix a few things. Find Hunk and Pidge, then bring them back here. I’ll find Keith and Shiro.” Lance nodded and the two split apart.  
Lance drove for two hours before he found his drop site, and then another hour before he found Pidge’s. He drove in a spiral, maximizing the area of ground he covered. Then he spotted an igloo. He rode eagerly towards it. Hunk was standing outside of it, and Pidge came out at his shout.

“Lance! What’s going on?! Where did you get that?”

“Shiana. Listen, guys, the Galra are here. They found us. Alura is being attacked too, we need to get back to Shiana’s before they figure out that we left and ransack it.” Hunk and Pidge nodded and grabbed their things, hopping on the back of Lance’s speeder. The three of them sped off towards the direction of Shiana’s bunker. Lance wondered if Shiana had had this easy of a time finding Shiro and Keith.

“AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Shiro screamed as Shiana pulled the speeder into a tight roll. Laser blasts barely missed them. “DO SOMETHING,” Shiro shouted, unusually panicked.

“LITTLE BUSY DRIVING,” Shiana retorted, “WHY DON’T YOU DO SOMETHING!” She pulled the speeder into a sharp turn, snow skidding everywhere as the Galra attempted to follow them, several crashing into each other. Shiro had a vague memory of something similar happening when Keith and the others rescued him from the Garrison, still drugged. They whipped around a corner, and spotted Keith. The Galra boy was being dragged, unconscious through the snow into a shuttle by a robot.

“KEITH!” Shiana screamed and drove the speeder towards them. It was too late. The shuttle took off, taking Keith with it. Shiro’s heart sank to his feet, but a laser blast reminded him where he was. He shook Shiana, who had tears trickling down her cheeks.

“Shiana! We have to leave! The Galra are right behind us!” Shiana composed herself and nodded abruptly. The speeder roared off.

Lance sat outside, waiting until he saw Shiana’s speeder appear. He saw only two people on it, and panicked. Who was missing? The speeder roared to a halt, and Shiana and Shiro slid off it. Lance looked at them, question written on his face. Shiana shook her head.

“Captured,” she said hoarsely, “the Galra have Keith.” Her eyes filled with tears, and both Lance and Shiro put an arm around her shoulder, steering her inside. She turned on the comm.

“Everybody’s here… except Keith. The Galra have him.” The team heard Alura say something very unflattering about Zarkon and his mother.

“Alright. We need a rescue mission. I’m sending the lions.” There was a loud thud, and the paladins raced outside to see their lions waiting for them. Shiana walked slowly to the red lion.

_So, you couldn’t save him anyway._

“Hey! It was not my fault, you overgrown junk heap.” The lion let what sounded like a sigh. _Fine. Let’s go save my pilot. It’s not like I was doing anything anyway_. All five lions sailed into the sky.

Keith’s head throbbed. Stupid Galra. They had smacked him on the head while he was distracted, and now he was locked up in who knew where. He heard footsteps, and he collapsed, trying to pretend he was still unconscious. Stop that. I know you’re awake. Keith felt a chill run down his spine. The voice of a druid was in his mind. He opened his eyes, and a Galra jailer opened the cell. Keith swung his fist, catching the Galra on the chin, and bolted. He didn’t get far, however, before the druid pinned him with its magic, and he couldn’t move a muscle. Drug him.

“Yes, sir.” The jailer got up, rubbing his jaw. He pulled out a syringe and walked warily towards the immobile Keith. Keith struggled with all his might, but he could not break the druid’s spell. The jailer injected Keith with a nasty smile.

“Sweet dreams,” he hissed. Keith found himself sinking into blackness once again.

Shiana banked hard to the left and narrowly avoided a blast from the ion cannon.

“We need to take that thing out,” she yelled to the other pilots, “It’s gonna kill us all.” The paladins voiced their assent. Shiana noticed that the particle barrier was still going up over the cannon. Her lion was the only one that could possibly make it. And she did. The particle barrier closed behind her, and she blasted the cannon with a fire beam. It melted into a steaming puddle of goo, and the barrier disappeared. _I know where Keith is. He’s on this ship. I’ll show you where._

“Guys, Red is going to take me to Keith. Cover for me.” The red lion sent an image to Shiana’s mind and she nodded. “Got it.” Avoiding fire, the red lion beamed a hole in the wall, and Shiana climbed in. Keith was lying immobile in a cell. She ran to him.

“Come on, Keith. Wake up!” Shiana gently slapped his face. Keith’s eyes opened slightly and stared at her blankly. Shiana sucked in a breath. The Galra boy’s eyes’ normal golden glow was gone. His eyes were glazed and dull. Shiana could tell that Keith could see, but his mind was not processing anything. “Come on, alien boy, say something. Just the blank stare. Shiana tried not to cry. What was wrong with him? She checked him over for injuries, but found none other than a lump on his head. Her Altean ears could hear his breathing and heartbeat, and they sounded fine. So what was causing this? She shook him slightly. Nothing. She decided to try something. Something she hadn’t tried since…no. she wouldn’t think about that. She had to. For Keith’s sake. Shiana closed her eyes and opened her mind. She concentrated all her power on Keith. She felt a floating sensation, coming out of her body and into Keith’s.

Throbbing. Slow throbbing. Something flowing through him that shouldn’t be. Couldn’t see, couldn’t feel anything. Nothing existed but this cottony feel. Sound was barely heard. Moving… moving was so hard. He couldn’t do anything, trapped in a moment, a moment when the Galra had injected him… Sweet dreams. The words played over and over.  
Shiana opened her eyes with a gasp, and heard Shiro’s panicked voice in her helmet.

“Shiana! Shiana!”

“Here Shiro,” Shiana replied weakly.

“Thank goodness! We… you… your vital signs stopped. You weren’t breathing, your heart wasn’t beating. I thought you were dead.” Lance’s voice was choked with emotion.

“I’m fine, Lance. Thank you, though. Keith isn’t responding. He’s been drugged.” Shiana heard more choice words about Zarkon and his mother. “I’ll fly. Once I’m off you can destroy this miserable hunk of junk.” Shiana turned to Keith. “Come on alien boy. I know you can hear me. I know this is hard, but I need you to help me here. I can’t do this alone. Please… just… stand up.” Shiana tried to help. Keith was trying so hard, but he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. His eyes dulled even more as he dropped back. Shiana’s own eyes filled with tears.  
“come on…” Shiana slung Keith’s arm over her shoulder and slowly managed to rise. Keith moaned slightly and Shiana thought her heart would break.  
“Shhh. I know. Shh. It’s okay. Come on. You can do it.” Shiana dragged Keith to the red lion and strapped him in behind her. _WHAT DID THEY DO TO HIM?!_

“Drugged,” replied Shiana wearily. “It’s not life threatening. We can deal with it when the Galra are all dead.” Red growled in assent, and the three blasted out.

“Come on! They have another giant cannon? That’s not fair.” Lance smiled when he heard Shiana. Then the smile faded as the pieces clicked in his mind. Keeping Keith alive, but in a state where he couldn’t fly. Shiana would be forced to fly, a less experienced pilot. She would rescue Keith, and then another ion cannon would show up. Even if the lion could be repaired the pilots would be dead. No one could fly Red.

“LOOK OUT!” Lance drove straight at Shiana.

Shiana heard Lance’s cry and looked to see the ion cannon pointed directly at her. There was no way of escape. She froze.  
“I’m sorry Keith,” she whispered, “Too slow.” The ion cannon started its blast, but Shiana felt something big shoving her out of the way, sending her tumbling through space. A turn showed the blue lion, back half caught by the blast. She tumbled towards the ice planet. Shiana screamed. Pure instinct, joined with the lion’s rage, controlled her. She pulled Red into a steep dive, desperately trying to reach Lance before he crashed. She sailed past him then pulled up sharply. The heavy force of the blue lion crashed down on top of Red, and Shiana struggled to keep control. The red lion half crashed, half landed, skidding across the snow. The blue lion was flung of her back and into a soft pile of snow. Red dug her claws

in the ground, bringing them to a halt. Shiana quickly unbuckled herself.

“Keith. Keep watch, okay? If anything comes, activate the particle barrier and stay safe, got it?” Keith nodded slightly, the most movement he could muster. Shiana moved him to the pilot’s seat and put his hand on the particle barrier button. “Just press down, ‘kay? If there’s trouble just press down.” Shiana ran to the blue lion, which whined weakly and opened its door.

“Lance!” the blue paladin was slumped over the dashboard, not moving. Shiana ran to him, lifting him gently down from the seat. “Come on Lance, don’t do this to me! Not you too!” The teenager did not respond. Above, the battle finished and the other lions landed, their paladins running to the blue lion. Shiro put a hand on Shiana’s shoulder. She could barely keep from sobbing. “Come on! Wake up! Blink! Say something! Flirt with me! Anything!” Lance cracked open one eye with a grin.

“Did I just hear permission to flirt?”

“No. you are hallucinating.” Shiana tried to put on her face of steel, but a relieved smile spread across her face. Lance grinned even wider.

“I did! You gave me permission to flirt! Ha, I knew you liked me!”

“I certainly do not!”

“Liar,” yawned Lance, settling back into her, falling back asleep. Shiana smiled gently. Hunk picked Lance up, and he groaned. Shiana could tell, using her ears to listen to his breathing, that he had several cracked ribs. The castle had also landed, and Coran helped Hunk get Lance inside. Shiro turned to Shiana.

“Now, you are going to explain why you were dead for a minute inside that ship.” Shiana sighed and rubbed her head.

“Shiro, I promise I will tell you, but I want everyone to be there. I don’t want to explain twice.” Shiro nodded in assent, and helped Shiana carry Keith inside.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” said Coran as he examined Keith, “All his vital signs are strong, but he’s so… unresponsive.”

“Drug. It grows on my planet,” explained Shiana wearily. Lance was floating nearby in a cyro pod. “Normally a doctor uses it to keep a patient from feeling any pain during an operation and to keep them from moving around, but it looks like the Galra found another use for it. All traces will be gone in about two hours.” Shiana moved Keith to a couch. Coran shrugged, decided Shiana knew what she was saying and left.

“Hey, Keith,” ventured Shiana, “I’m gonna go check on Red, okay? I’ll be right back.” She patted him on the shoulder and started to leave, but stopped when he caught her wrist. The pressure was weak, but it was there.

“Please… Don’t… Go. Stay.” Keith’s eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, but his expression was so lost and pleading, still unable to see anything, just this little bit of movement and speech taking so much energy. Shiana’s heart melted and she sat back down. Keith fell back on the couch, exhausted by the effort

“Of course, Keith. Whatever you say.”

 

Shiana breathed in deeply. All of her teammates were staring at her intently, even Lance, who had only just come out of the cyro pods, and Keith, who was still sluggish from the drug, but able to comprehend what was happening around him.

“Okay, um, so my species has an unusual talent. We can uh, briefly move from our bodies into the body of another. It’s so we can heal people when something is wrong that we can’t see. We are both warriors and healers, and this is, uh, the healing part.” Shiana finished and braced herself for the torrent of questions. Sure enough, it came.

“How come we never knew this?” was Alura’s question.

“Can you read thoughts?” was Lance’s

“How long can you stay in their minds?” Hunk.

“Why are you able to do that?” Pidge.

Finally, Shiro’s. The question she had been dreading. “Why don’t you do it often?”

“Allura, this is our best kept secret. If everybody knew that we could go into other’s bodies, we would have been captured and experimented on a long time ago. No, I don’t think we can read minds, only about a minute, and I have absolutely no idea, although I have a feeling it has to do with how our brain patterns are set up. Shiro… this is a long story.” Shiro got the distinct feeling he had asked something personal, something that he shouldn’t have touched.

“When I was young, I had no reserves about slipping into others. I would see if all Galra were as angry on the inside as they were on the outside, go into a bird to see what flying was like. I was very good at it. Mothers would call me to help them if their babies wouldn’t stop crying, or when their children were being sullen.” Shiana took in a ragged breath. “One day… that terrible day when my father was shot, I was nearby, watching him. I thought I heard him call my name, so I slipped into him. We can tell when another of us steps into us, and I wanted to offer comfort. But what I saw…” Shiana shuddered, and Shiro felt really terrible, putting her through this again. “His mind… It was all chaos and loneliness and regret. Fear of dying, terrible pain in his chest where they shot him… It was so intense, I thought I would get caught up in it and be swept away with him. So I pulled away, I ran. I ran back to my mother, told her what happened, and I never went into anyone else until Keith.” Tears were freely rolling down her cheeks, and Hunk swept her up into a Hunk Hug. She cried into his chest, and he gently stroked her head.

“Shh. It’s okay. It’s oookay.” Shiro also joined the hug, quickly followed by Lance and Pidge. Keith’s legs still were not functioning, so they brought the hug to him, all collapsing onto the couch together. Coran joined in the hug, and Alura put a hand on Shiana’s arm.  
“We will be your new family, and I promise, we will never ever leave you behind.”

**Author's Note:**

> Props to my Latin teacher, seeing as how I didn't have to make up a language. Literally translated sum stultus means I am a fool. and malus means bad. Thank you! and part three will come out soon!


End file.
